


True Love's Kiss

by FireSoul



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Snow White, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-07-27 06:18:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireSoul/pseuds/FireSoul
Summary: It's been three years since Sara Lance was placed under a sleeping curse, only able to be broken by true love's kiss. The worst part? She lost her true love before it even happened. Her friend's have accepted that she will likely never wake up, until a village newcomer comes along and gives them hope that Leonard Snart is still out there, but getting him home isn't going to be easy.





	1. Desperate Times

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks dragonydreams for prompting me this!

Another day come, another day he’s spent doing more than his share of work. Haircut and Pretty are _supposed_ to be helping him, but the bastards were up late last night “stargazing”, they must’ve never come in and they haven’t been seen since. He isn’t too worried about them, Amaya’s claiming not to have any idea where they are but there’s no way they really snuck passed her. Something’s up, but he’s decided he’s not going to worry about it until sundown when the work’s done.

“This the last of it?” Jax asks, dumping what he’s got for wood into their wheelbarrow.

Mick takes a look at it, and then looks back at the forest around them and the setting sun. They could stand to get more, but he doesn’t exactly relish another trip out here in the dark. He can make a few good items with what they’ve gathered today to sell in town next week, and he’s sure Amaya will have some cloth for him. It won’t be as much as he’d like, but it’ll do.

“Yeah,” he grumbles, moving for the wheelbarrow and Jax’s face breaks out in a grin. At thirteen he’s still got enough childlike innocence and energy to be ready to run off after a long day of work, a quality Mick wishes he didn’t know was going to disappear soon enough.

They make it back to the cottage just as the sun’s going down, and Mick parks the wheelbarrow while Jax races into the house. He looks up at the sky to make sure it isn’t going to rain, and it’s not, so he isn’t dragging the wood all the way to their little shed in the back.

Amaya is there to greet him with a smile and a kiss on the cheek as soon as he enters the house, which only further cements his suspicions that she and their two resident headaches are up to something. But he still can’t bring himself to mind.

“How was your day?” She asks.

“Fine,” he hums, “You?”

“Quiet.”

He hums again, this time a little more thoughtfully, and reaches out to place his hand along the side of her protruding abdomen.

“And… how’s the little guy doing?”

She chuckles at his question, looking down at her stomach and placing her own hand not far from his.

“ _She_ is just fine.” Mick can’t help but to smirk at his wife’s insistence that their child is a girl. Personally he doesn’t care one way or the other, in fact he would be overjoyed to have a little girl every bit as beautiful and headstrong as her mother. In truth the only reason he keeps referring to their baby as a boy is because it’s fun to watch Amaya contradict him, and he’s pretty sure that is also the reason she’s convinced it’s a girl.

Anyway, she leads him into the cottage where he makes it about three steps, just enough for her to move and close the door behind him, before he stops in his tracks.

He knew he should’ve been worrying earlier.

Standing there in the center of their little living area is not only the two missing idiots, but also the town’s newest resident nutcase, John Constantine.

“What’s the zombie whisperer doing here?” He asks, to which Amaya smacks lightly at his arm, but their guest only grins like a sly cat.

“Ain’t just zombies I deal in, Mate.” He chuckles, and of course Haircut decides now is a good time to cut in.

“He’s going to help us wake Sara up.”

Of all the naive crap to ever come out of that moron’s mouth.

“She’s cursed,” he barks in reminder, taking a few stalking steps closer until he’s almost nose to nose with Constantine. “And no offence, Mate, but I don’t see you as being the one to break it.”

No, there’s only one person in this world who has the power to wake Sara from her eternal sleep, and he died before she was ever cursed.

“I don’t intend to,” the supposed warlock tells him, and then he spins on his heel, heading over to the bed of hay and blankets in the corner where Sara’s been for nearly three years now.

Before Mick can physically yank their visitor away from her he sits himself on the floor, and only then does Mick notice that someone has brought out Leonard’s sword.

“But I do intend to find out if the one who can is still out there.”

Now Mick wants to throw him out of the house. Leonard’s dead, since long before Sara was cursed. He went out hunting one day, never came back, and all they found of him was his sword and a scrap of bloodied fabric. According to not only the warlock who cursed her, but Amaya and the town healer as well, only true love’s kiss can wake Sara, and her true love is gone.

For some reason, and he really never will know what, he doesn’t pick Constantine up by the collar of his shirt and toss him out into the mud. Instead he stands by and lets the idiot sprinkle his salt and other bizarre things around the sword and place candles along the edges of his strange circle. He doesn’t even say anything as the nutcase lights the candles and then starts chanting, though he does take note of everyone else watching intently and rolls his eyes.

The sword starts glowing, which Mick will admit is a little unexpected, and then Constantine opens his eyes to reveal they’ve turned completely white and are even glowing a bit themselves. Then the glowing stops, and his irises and pupils reappear.

“He’s alive,” The man hums, voice thick as though he’s just been possessed or something, and Mick very nearly calls bull on the claim. “He’s under The Oculus spring.”

That’s what stops Mick.

“Under it?” He questions, his mind reeling, because the spring is impossible to pass. The treacherous waters killing anyone who dares to try, there’s a string of bodies to prove it. It’s also where they lost track of…

Oh.

“I keep trying to tell people, things are almost never as they seem.” Constantine grumbles as he gets to his feet. “Good luck.”

With that he starts heading for the door, like he didn’t just tell them all that Snart is alive and that means there is a chance Sara could be brought back to them.

 “How can he be under the spring?” Mick snaps before their guest can make it outside the house. He can’t just leave, not after dropping something like that on them, something Mick isn’t entirely sure he believes. He _wants_ to believe it, sure, but it’s impossible. Isn’t it?

“I don’t know Mate,” Constantine says as he turns around. “All I know is I reached out to his spirit and that’s where it led me, to some cave behind the falls and below the surface of the spring, and he doesn’t have the aura of a dead man.”

With that he leaves, everyone watching the door long after it’s closed, and then one by one they all turn to look at Sara.

 

* * *

 

“I thought I’d find you out here.”

Mick looks up at the sound of his wife’s voice. It’s late, too late for any of them to be awake, but after tonight he doubts anyone is actually sleeping.

After Constantine left, and they all got over their shock, the main room had quickly become the epicenter of a shouting match. Haircut and Pretty were adamant that they’re leaving first thing in the morning to bring Snart home. Hell, they tried to march out right then and there. Mick had to remind them that The Oculus was where they lost Darhk’s trail back when he first cursed Sara. Even if they do find him he’ll have the upper hand, they need to at least get some sleep before coming up with a plan that won’t get them killed.

“Are you going with them?” Amaya asks, carefully lowering herself to sit next to him on the fallen log, her eyes falling onto the fire he’s constructed for himself.

He looks at her with hesitation and sorrow, his gaze falling to her round belly, and of course she rolls her eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” she promises him. “You won’t be gone long, and somebody needs to make sure Ray and Nate don’t get themselves, or your best friend, killed.”

His best friend.

She sounds so sure that he’s alive, something Mick still isn’t certain he believes. But, if there’s a chance…

He leans over and presses a firm, loving kiss onto Amaya’s lips. A thank you and an assurance all at once.

* * *

 

“But I want to help!” Jax all but whines in protest the next morning as Mick, Ray, and Nate pack up what they can carry on their back in regards to food and weapons.

“You gotta stay here,” Mick grumbles, not even looking up from his own bag.

Jax may be getting older, but that doesn’t mean he’s old enough to go on a mission like this. Besides, if they do find Snart and bring him home then the first thing Sara will do upon waking up will be wring his neck for allowing Jax to go with them to face down Darhk.

“But-”

“I said no.” He practically snaps at the kid’s decision to keep pushing, and now that he’s looking at those sad brown eyes Mick finds himself sighing.

“Look,” he starts, a little more gently, and he places a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “We’ve all got jobs to do here. My job is to keep Haircut and Pretty from screwing up and getting themselves cursed, lord knows we’d never find anybody to wake them up. We’re gonna be gone a few days, so your job needs to be to take care of things here; you need to watch over Amaya and Sara.”

Jax looks up at that, eyes wide, like he can’t believe he’s being trusted with so much responsibility. Amaya isn’t helpless, of course, but even she’ll admit that she’s needed a little extra help lately, and Mick knows she’ll understand him using her as an excuse to get Jax to comply with staying.

“Can I trust you with that?”

Jax nods eagerly, and with a smirk Mick ruffles his hair before he tosses his bag over his shoulder. He kisses Amaya goodbye, promising to be back soon one more time, and then heads out the door with the two nincompoops.

Constantine had better know what he’s talking about.


	2. Approaching

“So this is where you found him yesterday?” Mick asks as the three of them near the top of the last staircase in the West Family Boarding House. He was a little surprised when they ended up here, if only because Joe West is known for being a little, and understandably, cautious with clientele. But, he supposes Constantine isn’t the worst nutcase to ever roll into town.

“Yeah, right here.” Haircut says; pointing to the door they’re coming up on. He knocks once on it but there’s no answer. “John?” He calls but again nothing.

They don’t have time for this.

When Ray moves to knock a second time Mick reaches forward and turns the knob, which opens.

Maybe he should’ve let Ray keep knocking.

The door opening is met with a mix of shrieks and curses, not to mention shrieked curses, and Mick spins fast as he can to advert his eyes.

“Good God!” Pretty shouts, turning to advert his eyes as well and nearly smacking into a wall.

“Ray?!” A voice, that belonging to the woman in the room, demands.

“Zari?” Haircut splutters, and Mick just knows he’s still looking.

“What are you lot doing back here?” Constantine demands, sounding only mildly annoyed by the sudden intrusion, though Mick doesn’t dare take that as a signal to look.

“We came for you!” Pretty answers; also still staring at the wall.

“Why?” Constantine asks, “I told you where you’re friend is-”

“And now you’re gonna help us find him.” Mick interrupts, “We’re not getting out of there alive without a magician, and you’re the only one of those around here. So get dressed, both of you, unless you want to go walking naked through the forest.”

“Why do I have to-?”

“Because I said so,” Mick cuts Zari off. Despite the circumstances of running into her he is grateful they did, they’re going to need someone other than him who’s half decent in a fight, and it won’t hurt to have another sane mind around to defuse his housemates and Constantine.

Though, with Zari, betting on her helpfulness can be a gamble.

Oh well, the more hands he has the smoother this will go, and the sooner they can get home with Snart and welcome Sara back to the land of the living.

 

* * *

 

Amaya can’t help but to smile at the sight of Jax, curled up at Sara’s side in the way he spent so many nights back when she was first cursed.

“It won’t be long now,” she says, setting a candle down on top of a nearby stool.

The boys have been gone all day, and bless Jax’s heart he spent the entire day trying to make sense of Mick’s woodworking tools, so that they’ll have something to sell in town this week.

He looks up at her words, watching her carefully while she lowers herself to the ground and she can’t help but to chuckle. Once she’s seated next to him he returns his attention to Sara’s sleeping form, his eyes trained on the rise and fall of her chest.

She frowns as she takes in the sight, how broken, lost, and _hesitant_ Jax looks; too much so for a boy his age. He’s lost so much in his short life. First his parents, then his sort of adoptive grandfather from what she understands, she never knew him. But from what Sara once said that man had been a saint, taking her in after the deaths of her own family. Once he was gone she couldn’t abandon Jax, barely six at the time, and so their little family of misfits began. He looked up to Leonard too, from what she’s heard, she’s never met the man; but hopefully that will change.

Seeing Jax still appears worried she glances around the dim cottage for something, anything, to lift his mood; and smiles when she finds it.

“She’ll be impressed with all the lines on that post,” she muses, taking the candle and holding it to illuminate a nearby wooden support of the house, one with various lines etched into it courtesy of a slew of different knives; every one of them a marking point for Jax’s height.

The boy smiles at her with pride, and a hint of wistfulness, not yet ready to raise his hopes that not only will the boys actually be returning with Leonard, but that he will awaken Sara.

“Before we lived here,” he starts, “She measured me on herself.”

“Is that so?” Amaya asks, happy to indulge him in a happy memory.

“Yeah,” he beams, “She’d tell me to stand in front of her then she’d put her hand on my head, and when I moved away she’d tell me ‘ok, you’re this tall!’” He explains, straightening up and pressing the side of a flat hand against his stomach to demonstrate.

Amaya snorts a laugh; she can very easily picture Sara doing such a thing in the absence of a permanent place to mark her surrogate brother’s height.

“Well it’s a good thing she found this place,” she remarks, “By now you’re nearly tall as she is.”

Jax smiles at that, his cheeks glowing with pride even in the limited light. Amaya hopes he’s too caught up in it to notice the wistful frown on her face, her hand sliding over her belly to sooth her child’s kicking within. The thought of something happening to her one day, of closing her eyes one minute and opening them what she thinks is the next only to find her baby has grown up without her, is enough to make her feel sick. Jax isn’t Sara’s son, but still, for a time they were all each other had and he was so young in those days… it won’t be easy for her to wake up and find he’s already a teenager.

“We should get some sleep,” she finally says, and he doesn’t look particularly fond of the suggestion, but he nods anyway.

With a small smile Amaya places one of her hands on the stool with their candle, and then gratefully accepts Jax’s offered hand with her other; she is going to be grateful when she no longer needs help with acts as simple as getting to her feet.

 

* * *

 

Mick barely sleeps that first night.

They’re in the forest, camping out under the trees in a way that Mick once spent the majority of his nights. Back when it was just him and Snart, not a care in the world other than their next score.

How times have changed.

He’s up before the sun, not exactly unusual, and after rousing the others they set off for another day full of walking under the direction of John Constantine.

If Snart does turn up alive at the end of this, Mick is going to kill him for putting him through this.

“I’m telling you! The last time we were out here it was that way!” Pretty insists for what is probably the trillionth time, trying _again_ to snatch Witch-Boy’s map.

“Then the last time you were out here you must have eaten some poison roots or something!” Their “guide” shouts back, and he isn’t wrong, though Pretty denies it.

The two of them keep arguing about the right direction to go in while Haircut and his friend keep avoiding each other, namely he keeps trying to bring up the scene they walked in on yesterday and she keeps avoiding it.

“So what’s your deal?” He finally asks the girl, after she’s brushed Haircut off yet again. “Never took you two for a thing.”

“Ugh, we’re not.” She practically gags.

He hums in acknowledgement, “You realize I’m taking about Haircut, right?”

She rolls her eyes at him, “Yes,” she levels, “And not that it’s any of your business but Constantine and I aren’t anything either.”

“Didn’t look like it yesterday.”

She gags again.

“But if you’re not,” he decides to say, “Why are you avoiding Ray?”

Though he won’t admit it, he does care. He’s seen Zari around before, she’s at the cottage a lot, usually while he’s out, but still. She and Amaya are good friends, and Ray, there’s something special between them. He’s never thought much on it, never would’ve called it anything greater than friendship, but if she’s avoiding him…

“Ray’s my best friend.” She finally says, looking him in the eye to confirm for him that there really is nothing romantic between them.

Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more than friendship.

“My oldest friend,” she continues. “Since we were kids, and when you know somebody for that long… he just wants what’s best for me.”

Ah, that makes sense.

“Wants you taken care of, you mean?”

Zari nods, “He means well,” she assures him, like she knows he’s already thinking about how he should have a talk with Ray. “He knows I can take care of myself, but at the same time he’s never going to stop worrying about me. I’m sure you can relate.”

“How’s that?” He asks, only mildly offended that she would ever compare him to Ray Palmer, and she snorts.

“Come on,” she says, “You have been hovering around Amaya the past few months.”

She has him there, which she obviously knows. He tries coming up with some kind of retort but he can’t, not before he hears the rushing of water that his, at which point his mind goes blank and the only thing he registers is Witch-Boy’s announcement.

“We’re here.”

 

* * *

 

Amaya curls her fingers, digging her nails into the wood of the counter. Her back has been aching for months now, but these little twinges down low are starting to get sharper. She looks out the window, at Jax still trying to make sense of Mick’s woodworking tools. Perhaps she should send him into town, just to be safe, but who would she send him for? Maybe Caitlin, though she’s been handling some family things lately and might not be around. Still, it might be worth a try. Then again, what if he doesn’t get back before Mick and the others? He should, but what if he doesn’t? He’ll want to be here when Sara wakes, and if things take a turn and she’s here alone…

She doesn’t want to think about that.

But another twinge hits her just then, dull and low, but there. She hopes Jax won’t resent her if he doesn’t make it back in time, but he should, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Putting down her knife she makes her way over to the back door and, only hesitating for a few seconds, she heads outside.

“Jax,” she calls, one hand resting on her belly as though to show him the problem. “I need you to go into town.”

“What?” Jax asks, voice a mix of scared and heartbroken. “But-”

“Please,” she cuts him off, and he must see the worry in her own eyes, because his eyes bug out and his gaze flits down to her belly. “Just go get Caitlin, or Iris, or whoever you can find who will help if we need them. I’m sure you’ll make it back before the boys.”

Jax nods frantically, jumping to his feet and starting to run down the path before doubling back.

“Wait!” He calls back to her, “Are you gonna be ok?”

She nods, “I’ll be fine, just go.”

He doesn’t look like he completely believes her, but he does as she’s asked.

* * *

 

Mick feels like an idiot when Constantine leads them into a cave behind the waterfall. All this time Darhk was hiding right here in plain sight, less than two days away from town.

Still, he can’t let on that he feels guilty about not finding it.

“Where’s Snart?” He growls and Witch-Boy snickers at him.

“Should be somewhere below.”

“Below?” Mick demands, “Below what?”

Witch-Boy opens his mouth to answer, or possibly tell him off, but he never gets the chance.

“Guys,” Haircut calls out, getting them both to look over at where he is by the very edge of the falls. “Maybe below here?”

He’s looking at a hole in the lower wall of the cave, a very deep hole just wide enough for a grown man to fit through. Thinking the same thing, Zari picks up a decent sized rock and tosses it down. They hear a thud, thud, thud, and then nothing. No smack of a hard landing, just more echoing thuds.

“Alright,” Pretty says, “Whose going first?”

Mick wants to suggest that he go first, if he’s so convinced someone should, but it’s his partner down there. So he stalks forward and puts one foot into the hole, then the other, and then he’s carefully inching his way deeper into the cave’s wall, hoping he won’t get trapped and die.

Then, suddenly, the rocky walls and floor around him grow slick and smooth, and they he’s sliding down into the depths of the earth.


	3. I'm Coming Home

Mick lands with a harsh thud onto a rocky surface, groaning at the impact. Unfortunately he doesn’t have time to move before his lungs practically collapse with a sudden weight being dropped onto him.

“Haircut!” He snaps as the weight of another person lands on his legs.

“Sorry,” Ray wheezes, Zari tumbling off of him.

Once their little group manages to untangle from each other and stand up Mick takes in the surroundings they have landed it. The under level of the cave doesn’t look that different from the top, if only a bit more damp. However, unlike the level above it is obvious that someone has been down here. Glass vials, both broken and in tact, liter the floor. There are also scraps of bone and meat, none of which is a comforting sight.

“Where’s Snart?” He finally snarls while Constantine strikes a light on a torch he has apparently been keeping in his jacket.

“Somewhere deeper than this, mate.” The ever-annoying man says, getting the light on his torch to take. “We’d better get walking.”

Mick nods, he hates how long they’ve been gone already. He just wants to get Snart and get back.

But, of course, nothing is ever that easy.

They head forward into a tunnel, marching through the dimly lit darkness without saying much for fear of being heard, though by who Mick isn’t sure he wants to know.

He keeps his eyes peeled for Darhk, the memories of how dangerous the man is still fresh in his mind. He’s going to kill that bastard tonight if he’s given the chance.

Suddenly, they hear a rumbling coming from far, far behind them.

“What was that?” Haircut squeaks.

“Darhk’s sealing us in,” Witch-Boy says with what Mick could swear is a smirk on his face. “We must be getting close.”

“Great,” Zari deadpans in the very tone Mick is thinking the word.

They keep on moving, and they don’t have to move that much further before they find themselves in a small, dungeon-like, chamber.

At the back wall, chained from his wrists, is a bloodied man Mick never thought he would see again.

“Leonard,” he gasps, surging forward. He sees his friend look up, if he were paying attention he might notice Leonard trying to warn him, and he bounces off nothing but the thin air between them.

He stumbles back, eyes wide and searching. There’s nothing there, yet when Leonard opens his mouth he can’t hear any words coming out.

“Len-”

“He’s trapped Mate.” Witch-Boy says, reaching a finger forward and poking at the air until a faint blue light ripples through nothing before his eyes. “Prison spell.”

“So how do we get him out?” Pretty asks and before Witch-Boy can come up with anything Leonard’s eyes widen, so Mick turns and the rest of their group follows suit.

Standing right behind them is none other than Damian Darhk.

“You don’t.”

The only sound in the cave is that of water dripping from the stalagmites, and of Mick rising from the ground, holding out his hand for Witch-Boy’s torch.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t burn you alive.” He challenges, getting a cocky smirk from Darhk in return.

“You’d die trying.”

“Oh yeah?” Mick challenges, “We’ll see.”

 

* * *

 

Amaya is grateful she sent Jax for help. Not much has changed since he left; her back is still aching on and off and has only gotten marginally worse. That being said she’s still looking out the window every five minutes, watching for him, or Mick, or anyone. She isn’t seeing them; of course, it’s too soon for any of them to be getting back. She lowers herself onto the edge of Sara’s hay bed just as a pain sharper than what she’s felt so far hits her, and she moves a wet cloth across the sleeping woman’s face.

“A lot has changed since you were cursed,” she tells her friend, “You might be confused when you wake up. Jax has grown, he’s turning into a man before our eyes.”

Another sharp pain in her belly has her cringing, and then smiling.

“Our family is growing as well, hopefully you’ll wake up in time to see that.” She holds the cloth still for a moment, thinking of all that has changed in the past three years. “Leonard will be here soon,” she promises Sara, “You won’t have to miss anything more.”

* * *

 

They aren’t going to be able to kill Darhk; Leonard isn’t so stupid to believe that his friends could pull off such a feat. Still, it is encouraging that they’ve brought back up, powerful back up from what he can tell. He watches them fight outside his prison bubble and eventually, though they don’t manage to kill Darhk, a man Leonard doesn’t recognize somehow opens his bubble and gets the cuffs off him.

“Thanks,” he says as the man frees him.

“Don’t thank me yet Mate.”

The next thing he knows a woman whom he’s never seen before has literally blasted Darhk against the same wall that has been Leonard’s home for the past three years and the shackles snap around his wrists of their own accord, or, perhaps of the mystery warlock’s accord.

“That won’t hold him long!” The strange man announces, so without another word they all run out of the cave, the warlock using a spell to trigger a collapse behind them and seal Darhk in.

He’s out. They got him out.

He hugs Mick, Raymond, and even Heywood. He is then introduced to Zari and Constantine, and on the way back Mick catches him up on everything that he’s missed.

Which, to say the least, is a lot.

Darhk put Sara under a sleeping curse not long after kidnapping him, which Leonard knows. He also knows that Darhk has friends, and plans, and he makes sure to tell his rescuers as much. But Mick is insistent that preparing to face Darhk again can wait until another day. Right now they have to get back, because he needs to wake Sara up.

Oh, and apparently his old partner stopped dancing around his feelings for Amaya in his absence and she’s ready to have their baby any day now. So there’s that.

He’s happy to hear that, he truly is, but it cements just how much time has passed since he was last home and how much has changed.

And if he’s having trouble processing it, he can only imagine how Sara will react.

It takes two days before the familiar cottage comes into sight, and Leonard can’t help but to smile. He’s home, after all this time, he’s home.

There’s someone running towards them, a young man who looks a little familiar but…

It’s Jax.

Sara’s adoptive little brother, who was barely ten years old and could still be lifted onto his shoulders the last time Leonard saw him, has sprung up to nearly his own height in his absence.

He’s all but tackled in a hug by the boy, which he returns, until he hears the kid’s urgent voice talking over his shoulder.

“Amaya!” It’s the only word he can get out, but it’s enough, and Mick drops his bag right there on the dirt path and sprints into the house.

He’s followed by Raymond and Heywood, Zari and Constantine having stayed in town when they passed through, so Leonard picks up his friend’s bag and follows Jax along into the house.

When they enter the house the first thing Leonard notices is that it’s _loud._ The sounds of deep, pained cries fill the walls, coming from above in the hayloft that he remembers they use as a bedroom. He can hear a voice talking over the cries, Caitlin Snow, and he knows what’s happening up there.

He looks to Jax, who looks petrified, and much more like the young child he’s remembered all these years.

“Jax,” he nearly snaps, gaining the boy’s attention. “She’ll be fine, she’s strong, and Mick’s here now.” The boy nods frantically, Leonard can only imagine what the past few days have been for him. He doesn’t even want to think about the past few years.

“Where’s Sara?”

That snaps Jax back into the moment. The boy turns around and he follows, revealing to him a pile of hay in the corner of the house with Sara lain across it.

He is going to kill Darhk next time they meet.

But, for now, he hits his knees and cradles Sara’s head in his arms, tears in his eyes at the sight of her.

“Sara,” he murmurs, and bends down to kiss her.

 

* * *

 

Her eyelids are heavy, but they’re opening, like every morning. But this isn’t every morning, because Leonard is gone, yet he’s here looming over her.

“Leonard?” Sara questions, and smiles with tears in her eyes when a matching expression lights up his face. “Leonard!”

She surges up, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and he does the same around her back. He’s real, solid, and here. She wants to ask how, but before she can she finds herself distracted by a memory.

Darhk, the forest, she had her sword to his throat, a raise of his hand, and then…

Nothing.

She’s here, waking up as though it were all a bad dream. But it wasn’t, it couldn’t have been.

She hears a cry from somewhere in the background of the room and pulls back from Leonard, only now realizing that she isn’t up in the bedroom but down on the main floor, and just past Len is an innocent face she knows so well, and yet doesn’t know at all.

* * *

 

“I’ve missed a lot.” She later says to Amaya, after her friends have taken turns explaining pieces the whole story to her.

It’s late now, Ray and Nate have gone out for the night, saying a lot has happened and they need to blow off some steam, though she suspects it is more about giving certain people some privacy. Leonard and Mick, after some urging from both Amaya and herself, are outside catching up over a fire. After supper she moved herself up to the bed, taking a seat next to her friend after the other woman assured her it was fine. Lying between them is Jax; sound asleep and so grown up Sara can’t believe it. Even still, he’s tucked securely into her side and she’s skimming her fingers through his short curls.

“You have,” Amaya hums in agreement, her new daughter giving a gurgle as she finishes her late night snack.

Sara watches thoughtfully as her friend maneuvers her daughter to burp her, ever the instinctive mother. She can hardly believe this is real, that so much has happened, but it has. A part of her is angry, already craving revenge on Darhk for costing her so much. The other part, however, is hearing the sound of a fire cackling on the ground below the window at her head, and she can’t help but smile with the knowledge that Leonard is one of the men tending to it. She looks at the baby in Amaya’s arms yet again, still smiling.

Darhk has stolen three years from her, but that is all he’ll be getting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-Da!!!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> So this chapter is a little shorter than what I usually write, I'm not sure if all the chapters will be this short or if it'll just be this one. Originally this was only supposed to be a one shot but it became TOO long, so I'm spitting it up a little.


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